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August 22, 2006

After Sweep, McAdam Decides To Dump On Manny (On Base 19 Of 20 PA)

After being beaten by the Yankees five times this weekend, there is plenty of blame to go around. But one person who shouldn't get even one finger pointed at him is Manny Ramirez.

In the series, Manny went 8-for-11 (.727), with 4 singles, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 RBI, and 9 walks. He reached base in 19 of his 20 plate appearances (2 of those were on errors). His OPS was 2.305! He also made a few nice plays in the outfield. ... Manny raised his batting average 10 points in the series --to .330. In August, Ramirez is hitting: .412/.529/.691.

One more time: He reached base in 19 of his 20 plate appearances.

So who gets the most shit when Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal sits down to write his post-mortem? (my emphasis)

On Friday night, in the fifth inning of the disastrous day-nighter that would set the tone for the Lost Weekend, official scorer Joe Giuliotti determined that Manny Ramirez had reached on an error by Derek Jeter. Jeter had gone into the shortstop hole to backhand a hard grounder, only to have the ball glance off his glove and roll into shallow left.

On the play, teammate Mark Loretta, running from second base, was thrown out at home by Yankees left fielder Melky Cabrera.

Ramirez was enraged by the call, and was so angry about it the next day that he had to be talked into playing the Saturday afternoon game. On Sunday, Ramirez sought out an MLB official to try to get the call reversed.

Think about that: In the middle of the Sox' three most dispiriting losses of the season, suffered at the hands of the team's archrival, Ramirez sulked about losing credit for a meaningless single that didn't even involve an RBI.

That's perspective for you. ...

But with his team's season in the balance, Ramirez intended to sit out to protest a scorer's call? Would Jeter do that? Would David Ortiz? Would, in fact, any other player in the game?

It's not much of a leap to think that Ramirez's early exit from yesterday's game -- he pulled himself out of the lineup after the fourth inning, telling trainers he was suffering cramps in the right hamstring -- was connected to the events of the previous two days.

One player yesterday noted that while Ramirez had played hard for much of the season, the events of the last few days seemed to hint at an upcoming "episode" involving Ramirez, in which the slugger takes a decidedly indifferent approach to his play -- if he appears in the lineup at all.

Actually, Sean, it is too much of a leap, because you have presented zero evidence that this was the case. Zee-row. Based on what you've written for us, you've made this up out of whole cloth, pulled it straight out of your ass. It reminds me of how TV commentators are always telling us what Player X is saying to Player Y in the dugout or on the mound. It's all made up -- purely the invention of the person telling the story.

If you saw something, tell us. If you heard something, tell us. I understand that writers need sources that wish to remain anonymous, but with speculation this wild, McAdam should either get something on the record or shut up.

McAdam gets even sillier when he writes this about David Wells:

Finally, there was the eighth inning yesterday, when NESN cameras caught starter David Wells throwing up his hands, then shaking his head in disgust on his way down the dugout runway after catcher Javy Lopez failed to block a pitch from Keith Foulke in the dirt, enabling Nick Green to score from third. ... Green's run proved to be the difference in the game.

I saw the same shot of Wells. Disgusted? Of course, he was disgusted. I'd be worried about any Red Sox player -- including Lopez himself-- who wasn't disgusted at that point.

Angry, pissed off, disgusted, frustrated ... every player on the team should feel all of those emotions. They just got their ass kicked every which way a team can get its ass kicked. By its main rivals and the one team ahead of it in the standings.

Imagine a player was laughing in the dugout. You know damn well they'd be getting ripped by every knight of the keyboard (including McAdam) for yukking it up as the season went down the tubes. (Actually, Manny has been criticized for stuff like this, smiling after making an out. I guess he's got to throw his helmet or smash a water cooler to show he cares.)

So for showing the proper response to this weekend's events, McAdam decides to chronicle what he calls "the team's descent into selfishness". And the person he decides to call out the loudest is the guy who deserves none of the blame -- the guy who reached base 19 out of 20 plate appearances, batted .727 and slugged 1.455.

There are plenty of reasons why playing for the Red Sox would be attractive, but it's days like this that I'm amazed that any athlete in his right mind would want to come to Boston (for any amount of money) and deal with this kind of crap on a daily basis.

16 comments:

I responded to McAdams' last round of Manny hating, to McAdams @ the ProJo. It just never ends. For some reason, McAdams can always find something to bash Manny about. Oh, he will reluctantly write something not so hateful every once and awhile. I think he does this as either a smokescreen OR so he can SAY he doesn't hate on Manny when he is babbling on WEEI. I have never wondered why Manny wanted out of here. Here is the perfect example of why it sucks to play here - even if you are one the best players to EVER wear the red socks. Shame on Sean - AGAIN.

If the Sox let Wells go on waivers all hope is lost. It's bad enough I live in NYC and have to put up withthe constant barrage of insults. But if Theo and company give up on the season then why do I still feel obligated to defend every terrible move the Sox make?

Wow. A .950 OBP? I realized he was playing well this series, but that's unreal. Has there *ever* been a higher OBP for *any* stretch of plate appearances that wasn't simply a case of 4-4 or 5-5 (i.e., 1.000)?

Redsock: You're right, of course, but really...who cares? Manny won't; any reader with two IQ points to run togaether knows this is classic Boston sportsjerk crap. I can't be bothered. I'm in mourning.I've followed the Sox though good times and bad (since 1966, mostly good), but this is one of the very few times they embarrassed me, and made me feel duped. I believed the hype about the young pitchers. It's not so incredible: in 1977, the Sox brought up rookies named Aase, Stanley and Paxton and they performed with skill and class down the stretch. In 1986 Calvin Schiraldi stepped in and made the difference. In 1967, it was Gary Wasliewski and Sparky Lyle. And they weren't supposed to be as good as Lester, Hanson and DelCarmen. I thought Theo could assess a team's talent, and when he basically passed on getting any pitchers, I assumed that he knew something. He didn't.Most of all, I thought the team would rise to the occasion with the Yankees in town and the race close, like the '67 and '75 and '86 teams did against superior opposition.

They weren't even competitive. They depended on pitchers that were a day from being sent down. I thought someone would be a hero...and Schilling and Wells and Pap tried. But nobody in the line-up did what Jeter was doing: the other team had the hero.

I just don't want to watch anymore. I care about the team; watching it die by inches isn't in me; maybe I'm getting old. I was angry, but that's dumb...now I'm just sad, wondering what I can care about that much between now and October. I'll miss the Sox, but I think I'd miss my sanity more.

I usually don't like acknowledging drivel, but I had to send this to McAdam:

Re: Sox lose games and perspective

Despite living in Canada, I am a life-long Red Sox fan and familiar enough with your work on WEEI, UPN38 and internet Projo to know that your colleagues frequently refer to you as "the voice of reason." I guess you are uncomfortable with that assessment. The Red Sox just got steamrolled by the team they are chasing, played badly in the process and this coming mere days after losing 5 straight to the 2 worst teams in the league. Yet you try to put this crap on Manny Ramirez and David Wells? Manny reaching base 19 times in 20 at-bats and Wells pitching his butt off (the only redeeming thing in your article was no gratuitous reference to its size). Are you serious? Not the sad performances of all but 3 of the pitchers (maybe 4 if you count Foulke), not Torre treating the Sox like a 2-man offense, not Theo saying that Abreau is just a healthy Trot Nixon? Your reasoned perspective after a 5-game sweep is--watch out for selfishness, witness Ramirez and Wells? Any sane person would conclude that-- if that's the case, give me more!

Look, I know it was a long weekend and you probably had a plane to catch. But with so many angles coming out this weekend's disaster, I'm astonished that this stuff somehow rose to the top of your reasoned thinking. I can only conclude that there's something personal going on here, and that is sad.

Sorry to disappoint you, but there's nothing personal at work here, no agenda. I find it incredible that a player of Manny's stature would threaten to sit out a game because he was inhappy with a scorer's decision.That doesn't excuse a poor series by the entire team. But in many ways, I find Manny's behavior worse than the sweep. As his club is in the middle of its worst series of the season, he's worried about losing an infield hit? That's pretty selfish, anyway you cut it.

Best,

Sean

1. Don't assume I'm a "Manny apologist" and therefore disappointed.

2. I know I mis-spelled 'Abreau', but 'inhappy?'

3. He's describing Manny's behaviour like it is common knowledge. It's not.